Contents management method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A contents management method and system, the contents management method including: generating contents; and transmitting the generated contents to a Web server, wherein the Web server receives the contents, stores the contents, manages the contents, and maintains a list of the contents so that the contents are easily accessible by a terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No.2007-10267, filed on Jan. 31, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Aspects of the present invention relate to a contents management methodand apparatus, and more particularly, to a terminal that generatescontents, a Web server that reconstructs contents to be transmitted froma terminal, and a contents management method between a terminal and aWeb server.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the development of digital technologies, the demand for variouskinds of digital contents (hereinafter, referred to as “contents”), suchas music, movies, photographs, and documents, is increasing. Since userswant to constantly use the contents regardless of location, portabledigital terminals (such as PDAs, cellular phones, MP3 players, and PMPs)are widely used to receive such contents. The portable digital terminalsare provided with various kinds of content generating functions so thatthe users can use existing contents as well as generate new contents.

Under this environment, since the number and kinds of contents andterminals processing the contents are increasing, managing the contentshas become more difficult. Furthermore, since the contents may beseparately distributed to individual terminals, searching for andobtaining desired contents at a desired time becomes more difficult.

Accordingly, there is a need for a technology to efficiently manage thecontents for use at these portable digital terminals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention provide a method and apparatus that canefficiently manage contents for use by portable digital terminals.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided acontents management method, the contents management method including:generating contents; and transmitting the generated contents to a Webserver, wherein the Web server receives the contents, stores thecontents, manages the contents, and maintains a contest list of thecontents so that the contents are easily accessible by a terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda contents management method, the contents management method including:receiving contents from a terminal; storing the contents; and managingand classifying the received contents according to attributes of thecontents so that the contents are easily accessible by the terminal.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a terminal, the terminal including: a contents generation unitto generate contents; and a communication unit to transmit the generatedcontents to a Web server, wherein the Web server receives the contents,stores the contents, manages the contents, and maintains a contest listof the contents so that the contents are easily accessible by aterminal.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a Web server, the Web server including: a network connectionunit to receive contents from a terminal; a storage units to store thereceived contents; and a contents reconstruction unit to manage and toclassify the received contents according to attributes of the contentsso that the contents are easily accessible by the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for managing contents, the system including: a terminalincluding: a contents generation unit to generate contents, and acommunication unit to transmit the generated contents; and a Web serverincluding: a network connection unit to receive the generated contentsfrom the terminal, a storage unit to store the received contents, and acontents reconstruction unit to manage and to classify the receivedcontents in a content list according to attributes of the contents sothat the contents are easily accessible by the terminal.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a contents management system according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a communication environment of a terminalaccording to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal accesses aWeb server according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal transmitscontents to a Web server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal transmitscontents to a Web server according to another example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a content management method of a Webserver according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method in which a terminal receivescontents from a Web server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8A is a diagram showing contents search information according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a diagram showing contents search information according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing contents search information according toanother example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method in which a terminal receivescontents from a Web server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminalaccording to an example embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a Web serveraccording to an example embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a contents management system 100 accordingto an example embodiment of the present invention. The contentsmanagement system 100 includes a terminal 110 and a Web server 120.

The terminal 110 generates contents. According to aspects of the presentinvention, the contents represent data objects including at least one ofaudio data, video data, and text data. For example, the contents mayinclude photographs, music, motion pictures, e-mails, electronic books,schedules, messages, and memos. However, it is understood that the typesof the contents are not limited thereto.

The terminal 110 can transmit the generated contents to the Web server120. According to an aspect of the present invention, the terminal 110may transmit the contents to the Web server 120 automatically (such aswhen the contents are generated) without a user manipulation or request.

The terminal 110 may be a portable digital apparatus, such as a cellularphone, a digital camera, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a notebookcomputer, a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), or a MP3 player. However,it is understood that aspects of the present invention are not limitedthereto. For example, the terminal 110 may also be a fixed digitalapparatus, such as a digital TV, a desktop computer, or a set-top box.

The Web server 120 stores the contents transmitted from the terminal 110and reconstructs the contents according to a predetermined criterion.The reconstruction of the contents classifies and manages the contentsso that the user can easily access the contents.

The contents stored in the Web server 120 can be provided to theterminal 110 again. The Web server 120 can also provide the contents toanother terminal 130, which belongs to the user (user A) or another userthat has a right to access the contents. Furthermore, the user (userA)of the terminal 110 can provide the contents to a terminal 140 ofanother user (user B). An operation in which the Web server 120 providesthe contents to a specified terminal can be performed when thecorresponding terminal requests the contents or the operation. However,according to other aspects of the present invention, the operation inwhich the Web server 120 provides the contents to the specified terminalmay be automatically performed even if the corresponding terminal doesnot request the contents or the operation.

Other terminals 130 and 140 can also generate contents and transmit thegenerated contents to the Web server 120. That is, the terminal 130 andthe terminal 140 can perform the same operation that is performed by theterminal 110. However, for convenience of explanation, in theembodiment, it is assumed that the terminal 110 generates the contentsand transmits the generated contents to the Web server 120. Hereinafter,the operations performed by the terminal 110 and the Web server 120according to aspects of the present invention will be described.

A communication method that is used by the terminal 110 to access theWeb server 120 varies according to a communication environment of theterminal 110 and/or the Web server 120. An example is shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a communication environment of a terminal110 according to an example embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, it is assumed that the terminal 110 is connected to theInternet 210 via a network, such as a WiFi network 220, a CDMA network230, and a WiBro network 240, so as to access the Web server 120.

When the terminal 110 is located at an office or at home, for example,the terminal 110 can connect to the Internet 210 on the basis of WiFi(Wireless Fidelity) network 220. If the terminal 110 is out of acommunication range of an access point (AP) 220 at the office or athome, the terminal 110 can be connected to Internet 210 on the basis,for example, of a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network 230.Further, when the terminal 110 is moving at high speed, the terminal 110can be connected to Internet 210 using, for example, a WiBro (WirelessBroadband Internet) network 240. Specifically, network service providers224, 234, and 244 that support the connection of individualcommunication networks 220, 230, and 240 to the Internet 210 can exist,and the terminal 110 can access the Web server 120 through the networkservice providers 224, 234, and 244.

According to the location of the terminal 110, the terminal 110 may usea plurality of communication methods to access the Web server 120. Forexample, the terminal 110 can connect to the Internet 210 at home on thebasis of both WiFi and CDMA. Accordingly, if a plurality ofcommunication methods can be used to access the Web server 120, theterminal 110 can select one or more communication methods from theplurality of communication methods. The accessing of the Web server 120by the terminal 110 will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal 110 accessesa Web server 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when access to the Web server 120 is needed(for example, when the user requests the access or the contents are tobe transmitted to the Web server 120, the terminal 110 searches for acurrently-usable communication method in operation S310. For example, ifan access point 222 that supports WiFi exists in the vicinity of theterminal 110, the terminal 110 receives a beacon cyclically transmittedfrom the access point (AP) 222 to thereby recognize that WiFicommunication is usable. Alternatively, if a base station 232 thatsupports CDMA communication exists in the vicinity of the terminal 110,the terminal 110 receives a base station signal cyclically transmittedfrom the base station 232 to thereby recognize that CDMA communicationis usable. Similarly, if a base station 242 that supports WiBrocommunication exists in the vicinity of the terminal 110, the terminal110 receives a base station signal cyclically transmitted from the basestation 242 to thereby recognize that WiBro communication is usable. Itis understood that other communication methods may be searched or used.

Next, the terminal 110 determines whether the usable communicationmethod exists in operation S320. If the usable communication method doesnot exist (operation S320), the terminal 110 informs the user thataccess to the Web server 120 cannot be performed in operation S330.

Meanwhile, if the usable communication method exists (operation S320),the terminal 110 determines whether a plurality of communication methodsexist in operation S340. If a plurality of usable communication methodsexist (operation S340), the terminal 110 selects one communicationmethod from the plurality of communication methods according to aprescribed criterion (hereinafter, referred to as a “communicationmethod selection criterion”) in operation S350.

A billing policy of the communication method is an example of thecommunication method selection criterion. In this case, the terminal 110can use a communication method having the lowest charge rate from theplurality of communication methods. For example, if Internetcommunication based on WiFi is charged according to a flat rate andInternet communication based on the CDMA is charged according to anhourly rate, in a communication environment where both the WiFi and CDMAare usable, the WiFi that does not require an additional fee is selectedaccording to the communication method selection criterion. It isunderstood that, according to other aspects, the terminal 110 does notnecessarily compare and analyze the fees of the individual communicationmethods. For example, if a priority is set in advance for the individualcommunication methods on the basis of respective communication fees,manually, or other characteristics (such as signal strength), theterminal 110 can select a communication method to be used according tothe set priority. Here, the priority can be set by the user or amanufacturer of the terminal.

A communication condition is another example of the communication methodselection criterion. In this case, the terminal 110 can select acommunication method having a lowest traffic from the plurality ofusable communication methods or a communication method having astrongest connection intensity to a repeater (for example, the intensityof a signal to be cyclically transmitted from the repeater). Moreover,is it understood that other communication method selection criterionsmay be used.

Once the communication method is selected (operation S350), the terminal110 accesses the Web server 120 using the selected communication methodin operation S360. Meanwhile, if a single usable communication methodexists (operation S340), the terminal 110 can access the Web server 120using the corresponding communication method in operation S360.

When accessing the Web server 120, the terminal 110 may, although notnecessarily, transmit predetermined authentication information to theWeb server 120. The authentication information is information toauthenticate the user of the terminal 110 and may include, for example,a user ID and a password. It is understood that other or additionalinformation may be used to authenticate the user, such as an identifierof the terminal 110 (for example, an MAC address of the terminal 110).The Web server 120 identifies and authenticates the user of the terminal110 through the authentication information transmitted from the terminal110. To this end, the user may register the authentication informationin the Web server 120 in advance. The registration of the authenticationinformation can be performed in a similar manner to a subscriptionprocess to a Web site. However, it is understood that aspects of thepresent invention are not limited thereto.

When the terminal 110 can communicate with or access the Web server 120,the terminal 110 can transmit the generated contents to the Web server120. The transmitting of the generated contents will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal 110 transmitscontents to a Web server 120 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method in which a terminal110 transmits contents to a Web server 120 according to anotherembodiment of the present invention

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, the terminal 110 generates contents inoperation S410. For example, when the terminal 110 includes an imagingelement, the terminal 110 can generate photographs or motion pictures.Similarly, when the terminal 110 includes a short message editor, theterminal 110 can generate short messages. In addition, the terminal 110that has a scheduling application (hereinafter, referred to as“scheduler”) can generate a schedule of a user according to the user'sinput. Moreover, it is understood that the terminal 110 can generateother types of contents according to functions provided therein.

As such, the terminal 110 directly creates the contents using thefunctions provided therein to generate the contents. However, aspects ofthe present invention are not limited thereto. For example, according toother aspects of the present invention, the terminal 110 may generatethe contents by receiving the contents from another apparatus or networkand/or modifying the received contents, thereby creating new contents.Furthermore, according to another example, the terminal 110 may connectto a portable storage device (such as a multimedia card, an SD card, ora memory stick) and acquire contents stored in the portable storagedevice, wherein the acquired contents can be handled as the contentsgenerated by the terminal 110. Alternatively, the terminal 110 canreceive a short message from another terminal, and the received shortmessage can be handled as the contents generated by the terminal 110.

After generating the contents (operation S410), the terminal 110transmits the generated contents to the Web server 120 in operationS420.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, whenever new contents aregenerated, the terminal 110 transmits the generated contents to the Webserver 120. That is, the generated contents are transmitted from theterminal 110 to the Web server 120 in real time. However, aspects of thepresent invention are not limited thereto. For example, when apredetermined condition is satisfied, the terminal 110 may transmit allthe generated contents to the Web server 120 at one time. An example isshown in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 5, although a method in which the terminal 110generates the contents is omitted, it is understood that the terminal110 generates the contents (as described above with reference tooperation S410 in FIG. 4) and stores the generated contents. As aseparate operation from the generation and storage of the contents, theterminal 110 determines whether a contents transmission condition issatisfied in operation S510. The contents transmission condition may bea default condition or may be set or changed by the user.

Information about whether it is a time to transmit the new contentsgenerated by the terminal 110 to the Web server 120 is an example of thecontents transmission condition. Specifically, if a time period frommidnight to 3 a.m. is set for the contents transmission condition, theterminal 110 compares a current time with the time set for the contentstransmission condition and then determines whether the contentstransmission condition is satisfied.

A communication method that is to be used by the terminal 110 is anotherexample of the contents transmission condition. In detail, when theterminal 110 is a portable digital apparatus, the position of theterminal 110 frequently changes. As the position of the terminal 110changes, a communication method that is used by the terminal 110 toaccess the Web server 120 may also change (as described above withreference to FIG. 2). Accordingly, if a specified communication methodis set for the contents transmission condition, whenever thecommunication method is changed, the terminal 110 compares the changedcommunication method with the communication method set for the contentstransmission condition and then determines whether the contentstransmission condition is satisfied.

It is understood that aspects of the present invention are not limitedto the above-described examples of the contents transmission condition,and other contents transmission conditions may be used.

If the contents transmission condition is satisfied (operation S510),the terminal 110 determines whether newly generated contents exist inoperation S520. Here, the newly generated contents are contents storedin the terminal 110 that have not already been transmitted to the Webserver 120.

If the newly generated contents exist (operation S520), the terminal 110transmits the corresponding contents to the Web server 120 in operationS530. For the contents transmission, the terminal 110 accesses the Webserver 120 as described above, for example, with reference to FIG. 3.The Web server 120 reconstructs the contents transmitted from theterminal 110. The reconstructing of the contents will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a content management method of a Webserver 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, the Web server 120 receives contents fromthe terminal 110 in operation S610. Then, the Web server 120reconstructs the received contents according to attributes of thecontents in operation S620. Here, the attributes are, for example,information explaining the contents or identifying categories relatingto the contents. Examples of the attributes include the types of thecontents (for example, music, motion picture, photograph, e-mail, memo,short message, or schedule), meta data in the contents, and contexts ofthe contents.

The meta data can be divided into common information common to all thecontents and individual information specific to each of the contents.Examples of the common information include a contents generationposition, a contents generation time, and a character related to thecontents. Examples of the individual information include a genre, anartist, and an album where the contents are music, and a keyword, awriter, and a genre where the contents are electronic books. It isunderstood that other types of common information and individualinformation can exist.

The meta data can be added to the contents on the basis of informationinput by the user of the terminal 110. However, aspects of the presentinvention are not limited thereto. Alternatively, the meta data may beautomatically added to the contents according to functions provided bythe terminal 110. For example, the terminal 110 that can confirm theposition using information regarding the GPS or base station canautomatically add, to the contents, positional information when thecontents are generated. Furthermore, the terminal 110 that cyclicallyreceives current time information from the base station or a timerfunction can add time information at which the contents are generated tothe contents as the meta data.

Meanwhile, in order to reconstruct the contents according to thecontexts of the contents, the Web server 120 can include a function ofanalyzing the contents. A technical method of analyzing the contexts mayvary according to the types of the contents. For example, when thecontents are short messages or schedules, the Web server 120 extractswords from the short messages or the schedules, compares the extractedwords with previously recorded words, and subsequently lists thecontents in an appropriate category. If the contents are photographs,the Web server 120 extracts a face image from the photograph, analyzes afeature of the extracted face image, and subsequently determines whethera previously registered character exists in the photograph. If thepreviously registered character exists in the photograph, the Web server120 can list the photograph in a category related to the correspondingcharacter.

It is understood that aspects of the present invention are not limitedto the above-described contents reconstruction methods. The contentsreconstruction method may vary according to services that are providedby the Web server 120. Furthermore, the kinds of the attributes as thecriterion of the contents reconstruction may also vary according to theembodiments.

The Web server 120 stores the reconstructed contents, and updates thecontents list stored therein according to the reconstructed contents inoperation S630.

Though not shown in FIG. 6, it is understood that the contentsreconstruction or contents list update operation can be performedaccording to the user. That is, according to the authenticationinformation or identification information transmitted from the terminal110, the Web server 120 can update a contents list corresponding to theuser, or store contents corresponding to the user transmitting thecontents received in operation S610.

The contents reconstructed by the Web server 120 can be provided to theterminals 110, 130, and 140 (illustrated in FIG. 1) that require thecontents. The transmitting of the contents from the Web server 120 tothe terminals 110, 130, and 140 will now be described with reference toFIGS. 7 to 10.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method in which a terminal 110 receivescontents from a Web server 120 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 7, the terminal 110 first requests contentssearch information from the Web server 120 in operation S710. To requestthe contents search information (operation S710), the terminal 110accesses the Web server 120 as described above, for example, withreference to FIG. 3. The contents search information is information usedto construct a user interface for guiding the search of the contents,and can include the contents list updated in operation S630 of FIG. 6.

Upon receiving the request from the terminal 110, the Web server 120transmits the contents search information stored therein to the terminal110 in operation S720. The terminal 110 displays the contents searchinformation transmitted from the Web server 120 in operation S730.

The contents search information can be provided in a variety of waysaccording to a contents reconstruction criterion or reconstructionresult. For example, the contents search information can include thecontents list, arranged on the basis of at least one attribute. Thecontents search information shown in FIG. 8A is provided such that thecontents are searched for on the basis of time and position attributes.That is, the user can search the contents according to the contentsgeneration time and position using the contents search information.

In the contents search information, the search criterion can be modified(for example, an attribute can be added or changed). For example,referring to FIG. 8A, if a request to add a character attribute is inputfrom the user, the terminal 110 can transmit a request to the Web server120 to add the character attribute. According to the request of theterminal 110, the Web server 120 can transmit the contents searchinformation including the character attribute to the terminal 110. Then,as shown in FIG. 8B, the terminal 110 can display the contents searchinformation including the character attribute. However, it is understoodthat according to other aspects of the present invention, the terminal110 does not need to request the Web server 120 to add or change theattribute as the search criterion, and the contents search informationtransmitted from the Web server 120 in operation S720 may be constructedsuch that the attribute as the search criterion can be changed or addedsolely within the terminal 110.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing contents search information according toanother embodiment of the present invention. In the contents searchinformation shown in FIG. 9, the attribute of the contents isrepresented by a text. The size of the text represents an importance ofeach attribute. For example, the larger that the size of the text is,the more the number of contents related to the corresponding attributeis. It is understood that aspects of the present invention are notlimited to a size representation of the importance of each attribute.For example, the importance of each attribute may be represented by thecolor of the text. Furthermore, instead of or in addition to the text,an icon may be used.

The structures of the contents search information shown in FIGS. 8Athrough 9 are just examples of the present invention, and are notintended to limit aspects of the present invention. The user can searchand select desired contents through the contents search information tobe displayed on the terminal 110.

Returning to FIG. 7, if the user selects specified contents from thedisplayed contents search information, the terminal 110 requests theselected contents from the Web server 120 in operation S740. The Webserver 120 transmits the requested contents to the terminal 110 inoperation S750. The Web server 120 may transmit the requested contentsin operation S750 according to a download method or a streaming method,depending for example on the type of the contents or setting.

Although FIG. 7 shows the operation between the terminal 110 thattransmitted the contents to the Web server 120 (as shown in FIGS. 4 and5) and the Web server 120, the same operation can be performed betweenanother terminal 130 (illustrated in FIG. 1) of the same user or theterminal 140 (illustrated in FIG. 1) of another user and the Web server120. For example, the user of the terminal 110 can registerauthentication information of another user in the Web server 120 inadvance such that the contents transmitted from the terminal 110 to theWeb server 120 and managed by the Web server 120 can be provided to theterminal 130 of another user.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method in which a terminal 110 receivescontents from a Web server 120 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal 110 transmits a searchcondition to the Web server 120 in operation S1010. The search conditioncan include one or more keywords for defining the attribute of thecontents. According to an aspect of the present invention, the searchcondition can be transmitted to the Web server 120 together with therequest to transmit the contents.

The Web server 120 searches contents corresponding to the transmittedsearch condition transmitted in operation S1020. For example, if asearch condition including a keyword “company” is transmitted, the Webserver 120 can search contents related to a company. Since the contentsstored in the Web server 120 are classified according to the attributes,the contents corresponding to the search condition can be easilysearched even though there are a large number of contents to be managedby the Web server 120. Here, among the contents stored in the Web server120, the contents of the user that uses the terminal 110 or the contentsof other users who belong to the same community as the user of theterminal 110 may be included within a search range.

If the contents corresponding to the search condition are found(operation S1020), the Web server 120 transmits the found contents tothe terminal 110 in operation S1030.

Although FIG. 10 shows a case where the Web server 120 immediatelytransmits the contents found by the search operation to the terminal110, aspects of the present invention are not limited thereto. The Webserver 120 may transmit a list of the contents found in operation S1020to the terminal 110. In this case, the terminal 110 can display thecontents list. If the user selects specific contents from the contentslist, the terminal 110 can request the selected contents from the Webserver 120. Thereafter, the Web server 120 can transmit the contentsrequested by the terminal 110 to the terminal 110.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the Web server 120 canautomatically transmit the contents transmitted from the terminal 110 toanother terminal 130 of the user that uses the terminal 110. Forexample, the Web server 120 can transmit e-mails, schedules, and memosto a PDA, transmit music to an MP3 player, and transmit photographs andmotion pictures to a PMP or a digital TV.

Furthermore, the user can set contents to be transmitted and a terminalto which the contents are transmitted. Accordingly, the user canregister, in the Web server 120, an identifier (for example, a MACaddress) of the terminal 130 and the types of the contents to betransmitted to the terminal 130. The Web server 120 can transmit thecontents to the corresponding terminal 130 with reference to theinformation.

In order to allow the Web server 120 to automatically transmit thecontents to the terminal 130 even though the terminal 130 does notrequest the contents, the terminal 130 must be connected to a network,such as the Internet, though which the terminal 130 can connect to theWeb server 120. When the terminal 130 is a fixed digital apparatus (suchas a digital TV, a set-top box, or a desktop computer), the terminal 130can constantly be connected to the network. Meanwhile, when the terminal130 is a portable digital apparatus (such as an MP3 player, a cellularphone, a PDA, and a PMP), the terminal 130 can be irregularly connectedto the network.

If the terminal 130 is connected to the network, the Web server 120 canimmediately transmit the contents received from the terminal 110 to theterminal 130. Meanwhile, if the terminal 130 is not connected to thenetwork, the Web server 120 can transmit the contents to the terminal130 once the terminal 130 connects to the network. Then, when theterminal 130 is connected to the network, the Web server 120 cantransmit the contents received from the terminal 110 to the terminal130.

In order to allow the Web server 120 to automatically transmit thecontents to the terminal 130, the address of the terminal 130 on thenetwork (for example, an IP address) is needed. To this end, whenconnected to the network, the terminal 130 can transmit, to the Webserver 120, information that the terminal 130 is connected to thenetwork. This information can include a network address allocated to theterminal 130 (for example, an IP address). Accordingly, the Web server120 can automatically transmit the required contents to the terminal130.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal 110illustrated in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. It is understood that other terminals 130 and 140 illustratedin FIG. 1 can have the same configuration as that of the terminal 110.

Referring to FIG. 11, the terminal 110 includes a communication unit1110, a contents generation unit 1120, a storage unit 1130, a contentsexecution unit 1140, a display unit 1150, a user input unit 1160, and acontrol unit 1170.

The communication unit 1110 transmits contents, data, and information tothe Web server 120, and receives contents, data, and information fromthe Web server 120. To access the Web server 120, the communication unit1110 can transmit authentication information (for example, a user ID andpassword or MAC address of the terminal 110) to the Web server 120. Whenthe user inputs or requests that the authentication information betransmitted, the communication unit 1110 transmits the authenticationinformation to the web server 120. However, according to other aspectsof the present invention, the communication unit 1110 can transmit theauthentication information to the Web server 120 without a user request.

The communication unit 1110 does not necessarily directly communicatewith the Web server 120. As described above with reference to FIG. 2,the terminal 110 may be connected to a network (for example, theInternet 210) to which the Web server 120 belongs through a connectionwith the service providers 224, 234, and 244. Here, the terminal 110 canuse a communication method that supports a connection with the networkservice providers 223, 234, and 244. The communication unit 1110communicates based on the communication method. Although thecommunication unit 1110 is shown as a single block in FIG. 11, thecommunication unit 1110 can include a plurality of sub-communicationunits (not shown) that support individual communication methods when thecommunication unit 1110 is implemented to use a plurality ofcommunication methods. For example, the communication unit 1110 caninclude a WiFi communication unit, a CDMA communication unit, and/or aWiBro communication unit, although not limited thereto. The kinds of thecommunication methods for the communication unit 1110 or the number ofcommunication methods to be supported by the communication unit 1110 canbe set in various ways according to aspects of the present invention.

The contents generation unit 1120 generates the contents according to auser's request. Although the contents generation unit 1120 is shown as asingle block in FIG. 11, when the contents generation unit 1120 isimplemented to generate various kinds of contents, the contentsgeneration unit 1120 can include a plurality of sub-contents generationunits (not shown). For example, the contents generation unit 1120 caninclude an imaging element and an encoder that generate photographs ormotion pictures, a message editor that generates short messages, and ascheduler that generates schedules, although not limited thereto.

The storage unit 1130 stores the contents generated by the contentsgeneration unit 1120 and contents, data, and information received fromthe Web server 120 through the communication unit 1110. To this end, thestorage unit 1130 can include a memory, such as a flash memory, a harddisk, a ROM, or a RAM.

The contents execution unit 1140 executes the contents stored in thestorage unit 1130. Here, the contents stored in the storage unit 1130may be the contents generated by the contents generation unit 1120 orthe contents received from the Web server 120. Moreover, if the contentsare executed, the user can use the contents. In order to executedifferent types of contents, the contents execution unit 1140 caninclude at least one sub-contents execution unit (not shown). Forexample, the contents execution unit 1140 can include a text viewer thatoutputs memos or schedules, and a media player that plays motionpictures or music, although not limited thereto.

The display unit 1150 displays the contents to be executed by thecontents execution unit 1140 or displays a user interface, such as thecontents search information, transmitted from the Web server 120 orgenerated by the terminal 110 based on the contents search information.

The user input unit 1160 receives user inputs. That is, the user canrequest to execute the contents, request to generate the contents, orrequest the Web server 120 to search the contents through the user inputunit 1160, although not limited thereto. To this end, the user inputunit 1160 can manipulation devices, including buttons, a touch pad, atouch screen, or a jog switch.

The control unit 1170 performs the operations to select a communicationmethod to be used by the communication unit 1110 (operations S310, S320,S340, and S350 illustrated in FIG. 3) or the operations to determinewhether to transmit the contents to the Web server 120 through thecommunication unit 1110 (operations S510 and S520 in FIG. 5).Furthermore, the control unit 1170 can generate a request message torequest the contents search information from the Web server 120 or totransmit the contents search condition. In addition, the control unit1170 can control the operations of the individual components of theterminal 110 so that the terminal 110 can appropriately perform therequired operations, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1through 10.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a Web server 120according to an embodiment of the present invention. The Web server 120includes a network connection unit 1210, an authentication unit 1220, acontents reconstruction unit 1230, a storage unit 1240, a contents listmanagement unit 1250, and a control unit 1260.

The network connection unit 1210 receives contents, data, andinformation from the terminal 110, and transmits contents, data, andinformation to the terminal 110. It is understood that the networkconnection unit 1210 does not necessarily directly communicate with theterminal 110. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the networkconnection unit 1210 can communicate with the terminal 110 throughnetwork service providers 224, 234, and 244.

The authentication unit 1220 identifies and authenticates the user ofthe terminal 110 using authentication information (for example, the userID and password or the MAC address of the terminal 110) transmitted fromthe terminal 110. Further, the authentication unit 1220 may manageauthentication information of other users belonging to the samecommunity as the user of the terminal 110, together with theauthentication information of the user of the terminal 110. Furthermore,the authentication unit 1220 can manage identification information ofanother terminal 130 of the user who uses the terminal 110 and the typesof the contents to be automatically transmitted to the other terminal130.

The contents reconstruction unit 1230 reconstructs the contents receivedfrom the terminal 110. For example, when the contents are music files,the contents reconstruction unit 1230 can classify the music files onthe basis of the genre, the artist, and the album with reference to metadata in the music file. When the contents are electronic books, thecontents reconstruction unit 1230 can classify the electronic booksaccording to the keyword, the writer, and the genre by referring to metadata in the electronic books or by analyzing the context of theelectronic books. When the contents are schedule files, the contentsreconstruction unit 1230 can classify the schedule files according totitle, date, and content. When the contents are e-mails, the contentsreconstruction unit 1230 can classify the e-mail according totransmission time, title, importance, and attachments. These contentsreconstruction methods are just examples of the present invention, andare not intended to limit aspects of the present invention. Accordingly,the contents reconstruction unit 1230 can analyze various attributes ofthe contents and reconstruct (or reorganize) the contents according tothe attributes of the contents, as described above, for example, withreference to FIG. 6.

The storage unit 1240 stores the contents received from the terminal110. The storage unit 1240 may store the contents in a storage area thatis allocated to a user authenticated by the authentication unit 1220 (auser of a terminal from which the contents are transmitted). The storagearea may be logically or physically separated from storage areasallocated to other users.

The contents list management unit 1250 manages a contents list includinginformation regarding the contents stored in the storage unit 1240. Ifthe storage unit 1240 stores new contents, the contents list managementunit 1250 updates the contents list to include information regarding thenewly stored contents. The information regarding the contents in thecontents list can be acquired from the contents reconstruction unit1230. It is understood that the contents list managed by the contentslist management unit 1250 may be divided such that there exists aplurality of contents lists, each corresponding to a user. Furthermore,the contents list management unit 1250 can manage the contents searchinformation that is used to provide a user interface in the terminal 110to search the contents. The contents search information includes thecontents list. When transmitted to the terminal 110, the contents searchinformation can be displayed as a user interface.

The control unit 1260 searches the contents stored in the storage unit1240 and analyzes request messages transmitted by the terminal 110.Moreover, the control unit 1260 can identify a terminal to which thecontents or the contents search information are transmitted throughinformation managed by the authentication unit 1220. In addition, thecontrol unit 1260 can control the operations of the individualcomponents of the Web server 120 such that the Web server 120 canappropriately perform the required operations described above withreference to FIGS. 1 through 10.

The operations of the components of each of the terminal 110 and the Webserver 120 that have been described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12will be apparently understood from the descriptions of FIGS. 1 through10.

The components of each of the terminal 110 and the Web server 120 thathave been described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12 can be implementedby modules. The term “unit,” as used herein, refers to, but is notlimited to, a software or hardware component, such as a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), that performs certain tasks. A unit may advantageouslybe configured to reside on the addressable storage medium and configuredto execute on one or more processors. Thus, a unit may include, by wayof example, components, such as software components, object-orientedsoftware components, class components and task components, processes,functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of programcode, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, datastructures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality providedfor in the components and units may be combined into fewer componentsand units or further separated into additional components and units. Inaddition, the components and units may be implemented such that they areexecuted on one or more computers in a communication system. If themodule is implemented by only software, each of the terminal 110 and theWeb server 120 may further include a processor that can executesoftware.

Aspects of the present invention can also be embodied ascomputer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. Also,codes and code segments to accomplish the present invention can beeasily construed by programmers skilled in the art to which the presentinvention pertains. The computer-readable recording medium is any datastorage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by acomputer system or computer code processing apparatus. Examples of thecomputer-readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, andoptical data storage devices. The computer-readable recording medium canalso be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that thecomputer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.Aspects of the present invention may also be realized as a data signalembodied in a carrier wave and comprising a program readable by acomputer and transmittable over the internet.

According to the contents management method and apparatus of aspects ofthe present invention, the following effects can be obtained. First, thecontents can be more efficiently managed. Second, a user can moreconveniently use the contents.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in this embodiment without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A contents management method for a portable terminal, the contentsmanagement method comprising: generating contents in the portableterminal; and automatically transmitting the generated contents to a Webserver, wherein the Web server receives the contents, stores thecontents, manages the contents, classifies the contents according toattributes of the contents, and maintains a content list of the contentsso that the contents are easily accessible by the portable terminal. 2.The contents management method as claimed in claim 1, wherein thetransmitting of the contents comprises: transmitting the generatedcontents to the Web server when a contents transmission condition issatisfied.
 3. The contents management method as claimed in claim 2,wherein the contents transmission condition is a prescribed time or aprescribed time range such that the generated contents are transmittedto the Web server if a current time is the prescribed time or within theprescribed time range, or a prescribed communication method forcommunicating with the Web server such that the generated contents aretransmitted to the Web server if a current communication method with theWeb server is the prescribed communication method.
 4. The contentsmanagement method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting of thecontents comprises: searching for one or more usable communicationmethods; selecting the one or more usable communication methods from aplurality of usable communication methods according to a selectioncriterion; and transmitting the generated contents to the Web server onthe basis of the selected one or more usable communication methods. 5.The contents management method as claimed in claim 4, wherein: apriority value is allocated to each of the one or more usablecommunication methods; and the selection criterion is based on thepriority values or a communication condition.
 6. The contents managementmethod as claimed in claim 5, wherein the priority values are allocatedaccording to a billing policy of each of the one or more usablecommunication methods.
 7. The contents management method as claimed inclaim 5, wherein the communication condition includes at least one of aconnection intensity to a repeater and a degree of traffic.
 8. Thecontents management method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:transmitting a request for contents search information to the Webserver; receiving the contents search information including the contentslist from the Web server; and generating a user interface to guide asearch of the contents in the content list.
 9. The contents managementmethod as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a searchcondition to the Web server, wherein the Web server searches the contentlist for contents according to the search condition; and receiving thesearched contents or a list of the searched contents from the Webserver.
 10. A computer readable recording medium encoded with the methodof claim 1 and implemented by a computer.
 11. A contents managementmethod of a Web server, the contents management method comprising:receiving contents in the Web server from a portable terminal; storingthe contents; and managing and classifying the received contentsaccording to attributes of the contents so that the contents are easilyaccessible by the portable terminal, wherein the portable terminalgenerates the contents and automatically transmits the contents to theWeb server.
 12. The contents management method as claimed in claim 11,wherein the managing and the classifying of the contents comprises:analyzing meta data of the contents; and classifying the contentsaccording to the analyzed meta data.
 13. The contents management methodas claimed in claim 11, wherein the managing and the classifying of thecontents comprises: analyzing contexts of the contents; and classifyingthe contents according to the analyzed contexts.
 14. The contentsmanagement method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: updating acontents list corresponding to a user of the portable terminal accordingto the managing and the classifying of the contents.
 15. The contentsmanagement method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: receivinga request for contents search information from the portable terminal;and transmitting the contents search information including the contentslist to the portable terminal.
 16. The contents management method asclaimed in claim 15, wherein the contents search information isinformation for generating a user interface to guide a search of thecontents in the contents list.
 17. The contents management method asclaimed in claim 11, further comprising: transmitting the contents toanother terminal.
 18. The contents management method as claimed in claim11, further comprising: receiving a search condition from the portableterminal; searching a content list corresponding to the managed andclassified contents for contents according to the received searchcondition; and transmitting the searched contents to the portableterminal.
 19. A computer readable recording medium encoded with themethod of claim 11 and implemented by a computer.
 20. A portableterminal comprising: a contents generation unit to generate contents;and a communication unit to automatically transmit the generatedcontents to a Web server, wherein the Web server receives the contents,stores the contents, manages the contents, classifies the contentsaccording to attributes of the contents, and maintains a content list ofthe contents so that the contents are easily accessible by the terminal.21. The portable terminal as claimed in claim 20, further comprising: acontrol unit to control the communication unit to transmit the generatedcontents according to whether a contents transmission condition issatisfied.
 22. The portable terminal as claimed in claim 21, wherein thecontents transmission condition is a prescribed time or a prescribedtime range such that the control unit controls the communication unit totransmit the generated contents to the Web server if a current time isthe prescribed time or within the prescribed time range, or a prescribedcommunication method for communication with the Web server such that thecontrol unit controls the communication unit to transmit the generatedcontents to the Web server if a current communication method with theWeb server is the prescribed communication method.
 23. The portableterminal as claimed in claim 21, further comprising: a control unit toselect for one or more usable communication methods from a plurality ofusable communication methods according a selection criterion and totransmit the generated contents to the Web server on the basis of theone or more usable communication methods.
 24. The portable terminal asclaimed in claim 23, wherein a priority value is allocated to each ofthe one or more usable communication methods, and the selectioncriterion is based on the priority values or a communication condition.25. The portable terminal as claimed in claim 20, wherein thecommunication unit transmits a request for contents search informationto the Web server and receives the contents search information includingthe contents list from the Web server, such that a user interface toguide a search of the contents in the content list is generated.
 26. AWeb server to manage contents, the Web server comprising: a networkconnection unit to receive contents from a portable terminal; a storageunit to store the contents; and a contents reconstruction unit to manageand to classify the received contents according to attributes of thecontents so that the contents are easily accessible by the portableterminal, wherein the portable terminal generates the contents andautomatically transmits the contents to the Web server.
 27. The Webserver as claimed in claim 26, wherein the contents reconstruction unitanalyzes meta data of the contents and classifies the contents accordingto the analyzed meta data.
 28. The Web server as claimed in claim 26,wherein contents reconstruction unit analyzes contexts of the contentsand classifies the contents according to the analyzed contexts.
 29. TheWeb server as claimed in claim 26, further comprising: a contents listupdating unit to update a contents list corresponding to a user of theportable terminal according to the managed and classified contents,wherein the network connection unit receives a request for contentssearch information from the portable terminal and transmits the contentssearch information including at least one the contents list andinformation for generating a user interface to guide a search of thecontents in the contents list to the portable terminal.
 30. The Webserver as claimed in claim 29, wherein the network connection unitreceives a request from the portable terminal for contents selected fromthe user interface, and transmits the selected contents to the portableterminal.